Sorority Women's Perceptions of Survivors' Services and Justice on an Urban Campus

While researchers have attempted to estimate the prevalence of and identify risk factors for sexual assault, less is understood about the relationship among populations at high risk for sexual assault and their perceptions of survivors’ services organizations and justice. The purpose of this investigation is to contribute to existing research through exploratory qualitative analyses of 43 undergraduate sorority women’s perceptions of survivors’ services and justice on a large, urban campus in the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Results of these exploratory analyses revealed that the sorority women had preferences for informal confidants and services whom they could trust concerning matters of sexual violence. The women also discussed that they would prefer confidential and mental health competent services for fear that disclosing sexual violence might draw public attention to them. On the same note, the women expressed a preference for justice that would prioritize their reputation and minimize stigmatization and highlighted how disclosure of sexual violence could impact their social, educational, and employment opportunities. Moreover, they described a fear of being blamed or not believed about sexual violence. Lastly, participants supported relatively punitive sanctions for perpetrators. Overall, participants cited many barriers to accessing formal support services, exposing the persistent justice gap that remains for this population. Findings suggest a need for outreach regarding campus services designed to address sexual violence.

Detailed Overview of the Buildout and Integration of an Automated High-Throughput CLIA Laboratory for SARS-CoV-2 Testing on a Large Urban Campus

In 2019, the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 were detected in Wuhan, China, and by early 2020 the cases were identified in the United States. SARS-CoV-2 infections increased in the US causing many states to implement stay-at-home orders and additional safety precautions to mitigate potential outbreaks. As policies changed throughout the pandemic and restrictions lifted, there was an increase in demand for Covid-19 testing which was costly, difficult to obtain, or had long turn-around times. Some academic institutions, including Boston University, created an on-campus Covid-19 screening protocol as part of planning for the safe return of students, faculty, and staff to campus with the option for in-person classes. At BU, we stood up an automated high-throughput clinical testing lab with the capacity to run 45,000 individual tests weekly by fall of 2020, with a purpose-built clinical testing laboratory, a multiplexed RT-PCR test, robotic instrumentation, and trained CLIA certified staff. There were challenges to overcome, including the supply chain issues for PPE testing materials, and equipment that were in high demand. The Boston University Clinical Testing Laboratory was operational at the start of the fall 2020 academic year. The lab performed over 1 million SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests during the 2020-2021 academic year.

A simple model for control of COVID-19 infections on an urban campus

A customized susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered compartmental model is presented for describing the control of asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 infections on a residential, urban college campus embedded in a large urban community by using public health protocols, founded on surveillance testing, contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. Analysis in the limit of low infection rates—a necessary condition for successful operation of the campus—yields expressions for controlling the infection and understanding the dynamics of infection spread. The number of expected cases on campus is proportional to the exogenous infection rate in the community and is decreased by more frequent testing and effective contact tracing. Simple expressions are presented for the dynamics of superspreader events and the impact of partial vaccination. The model results compare well with residential data from Boston University’s undergraduate population for fall 2020.

Columbus Africentric Early College: Building the Black identity through art and culture

This article examines the Columbus Africentric Early College public school from multiple perspectives, including that of the founder, the architect and a graduate of the school, to better understand the school’s cultural impact. A thematic analysis of those viewpoints, coupled with the philosophical framework outlined in the Kaiwada theory, will provide a theoretical and practical context of effective teaching–learning environments. Furthermore, this article will analyse Columbus Africentric Early College as a physical and virtual space where formal and informal learning occurs through responsive education. Responsive education is a term used to describe the type of education that is sensitive, aware and critical of the lived experiences and societal influences that affect students and their respective communities. Columbus Africentric Early College, founded by Charles Tennant, opened its doors in 1996 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, and recently relocated to a 55-acre, $45-million ‘urban campus’ created by Nigerian architect Kay Onwuke. Columbus Africentric Early College is guided by the African spiritual principles and value systems of Maat and Nguzo Saba, which are reinforced through the school’s teaching, art and architecture that is designed for the transmission of culture. Columbus Africentric Early College is the nation’s only public Africentric school and provides a proven curricular model that implements culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy manifested through a non-western and non-Eurocentric perspective.

Architectural Coalescence : a Focus on Connectivity and Flow Within Socio-Spatial Networks

This thesis stems from an analysis of spatial morphology of the urban campus. The organization of the urban campus provides pockets for social interactivity amid public, private, and interstitial realms. Availability of collective activity contributes to the positive student experiences by fostering social interactivity and communal growth. Encouraging forms of collective activity, as well as connecting user circulation, plays a significant role in making students feel they are part of a larger whole. The focus is placed on how architectural design can provide the potential to explore the in-between condition of the public and private. This interstitial condition may be used as a platform to connect the two realms. Testing methods of socio-spatial and circulatory reconfiguration of Ryerson’s Kerr Hall may improve the understanding of how the built form impacts the movement and experience of user flow within the condition of the urban campus.

Architectural Coalescence : a Focus on Connectivity and Flow Within Socio-Spatial Networks

This thesis stems from an analysis of spatial morphology of the urban campus. The organization of the urban campus provides pockets for social interactivity amid public, private, and interstitial realms. Availability of collective activity contributes to the positive student experiences by fostering social interactivity and communal growth. Encouraging forms of collective activity, as well as connecting user circulation, plays a significant role in making students feel they are part of a larger whole. The focus is placed on how architectural design can provide the potential to explore the in-between condition of the public and private. This interstitial condition may be used as a platform to connect the two realms. Testing methods of socio-spatial and circulatory reconfiguration of Ryerson’s Kerr Hall may improve the understanding of how the built form impacts the movement and experience of user flow within the condition of the urban campus.